Windows Vista Aims to Get Gamers' Attention

Microsoft is doing something for Windows Vista that is usually only done with consoles -- releasing game titles concurrently with the new operating system.

They're calling them "spotlight titles" -- when Microsoft releases Vista (whenever that is; it's been delayed quite a few times), it will apparently have a lot of features built in specially for gaming. One is that that Xbox 360 controllers will work with PCs running it.

Microsoft will also release a wireless dongle that will make every 360 peripheral work with your computer. It will also use Auto Update to update your graphics drivers.

Vista will have DirectX 10 integrated, although the games will also run on DirectX 9, so if you have an XP machine and haven't upgraded, you can still play them but they won't look as good.

One game they showed was Flight Simulator X. The demo has a national park -- I think it was Yellowstone -- and they showed an actual picture of what the park looks like in reality, then rendered the simulator with DirectX 9 -- it looked pretty darn good -- then in DirectX 10. I tell ya, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between that and the real picture if you didn't know to start with.